Translated to English by Mitko Janeski
The old true and right philosophers and naturalists said: Where NATURE it ends, there the ARS begins (Ubi NATURA desinit, Ibi ARS incipit). This splendid and excellent aphorism was truly spoken and recorded by them not in the wind and without any danger, but very carefully and well worth considering. Then how could they have been more recently and specifically more genuinely, and indeed more precisely and intelligibly, have described and presented the perfect philosophical matters, both particular and universal.
And to interpret and explain this rich saying in terms of length and content, even if several books of paper were too small to write on, it would be reasonable to expect.
Then when we consider the beginning of nature and its birth, only in the lower elements, such as water and earth, that is, the vegetables, animals, minerals and metals, how they first introduce their seeds to birth in a completely invisible way and present them to the eyes.
Then, therefore, the seeds of all creatures are sown invisibly, and no one can see the seed from which the fruit born and grown up.
For example,
Look at the seed of the vegetable things, which is sown in the earth, how invisible it is. For what you see is not the seed of the fruit, but only the house in which the seed invisibly dwells. Even though one asked for this example and testimony, of the unripe or lost seed, even though it has the appearance of being the seed, it is still nothing more than just the empty house in and from which the seed was supposed to come, and even though it is thrown into the earth, it will surely be the No fruit will come from it, which one has promised.
For in the stunted seed the power of birth has invisibly withered and gone into the air, but in the unripe seed it is not yet perfect for birth.
You should also understand the semen of animals in the same way. For it is unfair and contrary to nature if we, with ARISTOTLE, consider the sperm of the animal to be the seed of birth, because it is the only matter in which the seed, as a spirit and invisible being, is retained in the centro of the spermatis and is encased in the matrices.
In the same way you should also understand the chaotic seeds of the minerals, and how they are raised up by nature like smoke and vapor in the tunnels of the earth and sown in the matrices of their mother, and then, after their conception, come to a certain birth.
To speak of this here would take too long, but it will be discussed in another place, where we will ask how this invisible seed is astral, and how the Astra take such invisible seed from the earth so that it can grow to the height or substance of a fruit, extensively and from the ground, to the understanding.
But you see further how such an invisible seed extends itself into tangible substances and bodies, such as trees, animals and mountains, or minerals and metals, according to which the inclination, predestinatio and impressio of each seed is the Astrorum.
For the astrum of the horse is predestined to give birth to the horse: the astrum of the fig tree is predestined to give birth to a fig tree: and is thus impressed by the highest and greatest God, the Astro, into nothing else, or outside of its predestination, especially when it is left to run its course.
Therefore the philosophers have rightly said that everything makes and gives birth to its own like.
But so that we can quickly come to the end of the theo-fica, you should know that there is a progression in nature, that all things can come and be brought to a better state. Yes, you see how all plants and animals, after their death and dying, go into a substance of minerals, and they become salts, different in each one. Then one goes into the substance of the salis communis, the other into the sal vitrioli, the third into the nitrum and the like.
But the minerals also have their progression, and just as the nature and substance of the vegetable in the nature of the salt approaches minerals: so also the substance and nature of the minerals approaches the metals, one goes into the substance and nature of Jovis, the other into the substances of Veneris, the third into the nature of Lunam, Martis and Solis.
The imperfect metals can also do this, and we obviously learn from nature that the nature and substance of the lead on the roofs, through the moisture and warmth of the sun, passes into the substance and essence of silver, so too, from nature and its aftereffects, all other imperfect corpora of the metals can be transformed into the substantiam solis.
But here we learn of nature's ultimate creation: for nothing has ever been discovered about such a perfect being and nature of gold, indeed that it would have such uniformity with the elements, and be like them in all things.
Many have asked of precious stones how they surpass gold, but they were wrong; for there is no perfection or quality of all a four elements, indeed a unity of the elements could make them utterly null and void, even though they appear to be wonderful and seem as if they were and could do more than gold, although this is not the case, since gold has a union and is similar to all four elements: and the most precious stone is ruled alone from the Astro, and when its terminus is out, the stone which the Astrum makes precious is as healthy as a pebble, and the like.
This certainly does not happen to gold, for until the final judgment of the court, nature cannot change or diminish the nobility and perfection of the body of gold.
It is indeed a material of all precious stones, and gives them better from its body and from its material than nature can find and achieve.
And I tell you, if the astrum were to turn and imprint its inclination into such a clarified body of gold, it could not lose its virtue and power until the final judgment. For the body is perfect and united and pleasant to all elements, and there is no element that could harm it.
Other stones, however, have no perfect material, and when the time of the predestination of the end of their material has come, they leave the astrum, and its power is drawn back to itself by the astro: which cannot happen to gold in nature, and by nature, because it is not predestined to any end up to the final judgment.
And note that, which I have also conceived, because it will bring a nuc in time, and will be necessary, etc.
And so we will briefly describe this our philosophical aphorism as a large sea ship full of precious stones, Gold, silver, pearls and other noble good spices to the blessed port and full of complete.
Now the second part of our aphorism follows, where the philosopher continues: That's where the art begins (IBI ARS INCIPIT). We have said and briefly demonstrated to some extent how gold is the end of natural behavior, in which substance ceases and rests, for it has come to a certain end.
You have also heard how there is a progression in nature, and this is therefore predestined by the highest and greatest God, that all creatures progress in their development, and each one hastens to its certain end, as you belong to the seed of the vegetable; after the death of each vegetable and the dying of the first life, the other progression begins, namely to the minerals: and after the dying of the minerals, the third progression to the metals: from the metals, however, the fourth progression begins, namely to gold, as the final creation.
Just as with the arithmeticis, whose pro- gressum history in the numbers to the quaternario, which they progress from one to two, from two to three, and up to four, and here is the end of a complete demarii, and the common arithmetic masters under, white instruct their students in pronouncing numbers to look from one number to the next and say 1, 10, 100, 1000. and with these the perfection of all numbers is expressed; so also in nature all the power of the Magnalia, Mysteries and Virtutum is understood and also expressed to some extent through this progression.
But now notice that we must also speak here of the art which first of all has its beginning in the place where nature has established its end. For this will be a unique and separate art, since other arts, as has always been said of arithmetic, also have their beginning or principle in nature, or with nature.
For without doubt the philosopher did not say this quite so explicitly that art did not fully begin until nature had come to an end and ceased in giving birth, and even in the place and in the part where nature had ceased to work.
But God has placed and created man above nature and all creatures, even though he is natural and nothing more than nature, apart from the breath which God breathed into him from his divine mouth after the completion of all creatures and the formation of all creatures. It is precisely this man who should and will be the judge over nature and its works.
This divine spirit presents to the senses and thoughts of men, as if in a true vision, the first beginnings of nature, since the natural, a created spirit, finds some indication on which it can and may truly establish and base itself, and in such work and earnestness of the spirit of natural creation, the divine breath in us further forms for the breaking of the whole world.
And St. Peserus gives it out of the ignited, burning fiery heat, the breathed-in breath of God, in clear words, and says: That the elements of the present will melt, and the earth and the works that flow will burn, and a new world will be born, very holy, as is finely foreshadowed in the book of Apocalypse.
Indeed, the first fathers and patriarchs built great wisdom on this foundation, and God also presented it to them in this nature in many obvious works, which would be too long to relate here one by one.
Indeed, it was precisely in this place that the noble art, of which the heathens and philosophers left something behind, began with the fathers, and this is the art which should be a prefiguration of the dissolution and new birth of the new, eternal, incorruptible world from nature, before the eyes of the holy man Eyes set and pre-paint, and as said above about Petro, that such a breaking of the elemental world should happen through fire, now also notice in this art, that in nature's pre-formation the fire must also do this and will accomplish it, But if we were to speak of matter, of the breaking up of the great supercelestial work of stone, where one asks how gold is a completely perfect created world, then we would like to say something further about the fire with which the breaking up of the world is to be ended. For in that place it will be of use, because accordingly in these present times such a great mystery of the eternal God will be contemplated by some people, spiritually placed before their eyes and revealed to their minds and senses.
Then just as a supernatural or elemental fire will be that through which the elements and the whole world will break and melt into one another, and how the new work will be born again from the broken and perishable works of the melted elements and will be an eternal work; The holy eternal Trinity has such a thing, even in the Supercelestial Stone, where one must have a supernatural fire and a supercelestial preparation, and want to use it, show it and show it; but this is not mentioned in the book, where one can see from the beginning and the end of all creatures, creation and birth, and then of their end, corruption, downfall and destruction, must be fully stated.
And so, for the sake of brevity, we conclude the other part of our aphorism, on art, with this simple indication that it will be precisely this art which works in fire and melts the elements, and burns their earth, and brings about a new birth of a new work, a perfect, indestructible, supernatural world, full of all magnaglia, mysteries, arcana, and full of virtue, power and potency.
Help, eternal God, through your fatherly, gentle goodness for the sake of Christ, your Son, and for the honor and praise of your great name, that we may truly recognize this your holy, divine revelation, for the consolation and joy, strength and salvation of our poor souls from eternity to eternity, Amen.
And we also want to give a more thorough lesson on the nature of gold, as we promised at the beginning in the title of this little Theorica.
The philosophers have rightly said that the substance of gold is omnipotent and equal to all elements, which We have also reported this before, but it is not yet clear, for we still have much more to look into here before it can be done quickly, and we will only say, in a basic and simplicit way, that gold has two natures according to the elements, namely spiritual, volatile, celestial and astral, and again corporal, physical, and according to the opinion of philosophers, fixed natures and substances.
Well, these two natures should be studied diligently and carefully by all researchers.
For without this knowledge, all work and effort, as well as the intention and ingenuity of the working researcher, will be lost and will be led astray in vain as in a labyrinth of darkness, and outside of these two natures no certain process for the projection of the imperfect bodies can take place, just as little as the projection can be prepared and made outside of the natures or substance of gold.
And notice this well, for there are many who have prepared and made projections from the minerals, even on imperfecta corpora, and yet have not been able to know where they come from, indeed many among the learned philosophers have not experienced it or have not been able to notice it, because they have evidently and in fact experienced how the moon from the projection of the elixir in several many degrees, not only in the purity It has surpassed the mineral lunar surface not only in terms of purity but also in terms of perfection, so that it has been valued as equal to fine gold as far as perfection is concerned.
But you know, that's outside the substance and nature of gold is impossible, a Projection Tincture or Elixir.
Because although many of the ignorant from their ignorance stand may ask, it is the elixir from the Vitriol, antimonio, arsenico, &c. herkominen and extracted, everything is right and true, and not against the meaning of nature, and it should be so sepn.
But this vitriolic, antimonial and arsenical extraction does not affect be different than a nature of gold. Then, as previously said, it is impossible, and contrary all will and understanding of natures, in change materials to seek a true elixir.
Then the nature and substance of gold that is grace, God grant it to you immediately whatever you want.
For that is true and un laugbar, which all creatures in their reception nús and birth from nature is get, into them a part of the substance of the gold to overthrow, such is then all creatures But how little they have to the other of these, have understood to be easily considered by the researchers, and in no way different, then that nature in its goodness all time, the one mineral, vegetable, also animal, ennobled and gifted before the other, and the given to others more than to others.
And this is the cause of the aforementioned progression, for if the creatures of the plants, mineral animals, had nothing of the substance of gold, their progression would certainly not continue.
But now that each one has received something from the Solarian Nature, it is compelled by this Nature to go to a similar end, and the more it has of the Solarian Nature, the sooner and faster it will hasten to this end.
Therefore, whoever wishes to make a true elixir from the mineral species should think of nothing other than diligently finding the nature of gold in it, and actually grasping it for his work and presiding over the effect.
Everyone should also know, and not forget, that before extracting and preparing the material he has in mind, no matter what kind of mineral it is, he should first and foremost make it perfect, especially in the case of the stones, since the nature of gold is very imperfect, and without previous perfection it is impossible to hope for a good result.
And let us see how we want to make an elixir for projection from the moon (which is considered to be closest to gold in terms of perfection), for it must first be made of the natural and perfect lunar substance in gold, which is equal to it, so that it becomes perfect. For if it is made into such perfection, when its body is driven into regression, into its first matter, where it then quickly loses all imperfect, hindering parts, and could, with its pure nature, which is incorporated into it by gold and its nature, also hasten to gold's perfection.
Therefore, if we seek projection for white or red work, we should take it from gold, or at least extract such a twofold perfect nature, namely a spiritual and fiery, white and red, from the minerals and use it for the work.
But good and faithful nature wanted to relieve the diligent follower of such long time, effort and care, and has placed before us gold and golden nature prepared and prepared by herself, so that the follower of natural secrets does not have to first, through long time and great effort, and at great risk, bring the arfenicum, realgar, auripigmentum, mercury and, sulphur to the degree to which noble and powerful nature has always prepared and arranged them.
Praise and thanks be to God for all eternity for his high and mighty gift, which he has so generously endowed nature with such great wealth of all temporal prosperity for our collective salvation and earthly joy,
Amen.
Many and various modes of dealing with gold have been written and invented by philosophers: one wanted it to be in a gold, another in a powder, a third in a stone, and the like.
But this is how the wrong researchers intended it to be. For all elixirs are gold, stone and powder, if they can and should make certain projections of the imperfect metals into gold.
For when philosophers wrote about the philosophical gold of gold, they meant both the stone and the powder, and again when they wrote about the stone, they also meant the gold, since it is all one, stone, gold and powder.
Well, first of all you should know that because gold is a very dense, compact and solid substance and body, this very substance must be broken, the body must be broken up and opened up.
For without this philosophical reasons it will be impossible to disintegrate and unlock, and it will not be possible to hope for any perfect nucleus.
Therefore, true philosophy has invented four modes, as it were, as the key to the rune on which the entire foundation of all artificial preparation should rest.
The first Key Clavem they called SOLVTIONEM, the second SUBLIMATIONEM, the third CALCINATIONEM, the fourth FIXATIONEM.
You should know of the SOLUTION that it was created and invented from the idea that the body of gold would be broken, dissolved and opened.
For if there is such a dissolution and exclusion, the gold will indeed remain gold, including all its substance and essence.
But if it is opened and broken, then a certain nut will be expected and expected from its body.
And this is the way by which the perfect becomes imperfect, the fixed becomes volatile, and the corporal becomes spiritual.
The other mode, SUBLIMATIO, is about what can be opened and dissolved at the same time, soul and spirit, in the broken body of the gold. Then this mode opens up to the spirit and its power, that is the soul, the Arcanum, Mystery, Virtus and Potentia.
So you should understand the third modum CALCINATIONEM, that in it the spirits, that is, the soul with the spirit in turn penetrated into the body and are united, so that three different substances in turn become one substance, and that were previously three, jesund be one, and the union of the spirit with the soul, and of the soul and spirit with the body, must be brought to an eternal peace, and therefore to an inseparable being.
Now it is now time to say about the fourth key, which is called FIXATIO, namely that it locks the soul and spirit with all their power and power of the magnalia, arcana and mysteries in the body, so that they can be used for eternity because there is one nature, neither can nor can be separated from another, and are therefore closed until the final judgment.
The first chapter actually aims to show PRACTICAM and the essence of the first key; also how to find it and properly use it to unlock the body.
The other chapter will reveal to us the way and method to the other key, namely SUBLIMATION for the opening of the spirit and soul.
The third chapter will report, and with express with certainty the union of the spirit with the soul in the body, and the process of how it may take place.
The fourth chapter will give us an explicit report of the key of the binding of soul and spirit in the body, how it should be bound and profitably used for our work.
The fifth chapter is intended to teach us the right use and benefit of this our complete and complete work, and in what such use and benefit lies.
You have shown in the Theorica, and to some extent complained, how gold creates the end of all natures, and how a progression takes place from one to the other, up to the end, namely, to gold.
But now you will be told further that six metals were created: lead, tin, copper, iron, silver, and precious gold. The powers of all five other metals are contained in the sun and created at the same time as one another.
Just as in the first creation of the world, there are initially 6 days in which the Divine Omnipotence prepared all creatures that were to be useful and serviceable to the world, and as the eternal wisdom of God so pleased and wanted to have; but the last creation was Adam, and in this creature were contained, and at the same time created, all the creation and power of nature which had been prepared for him.
And here you should consider and notice above all that the omnipotence of God created all things out of nothing, except man, whom he created out of something, namely from a piece of the earth's composition, in which all other creatures were enclosed, and thus man became a microcosm. But how this composition is to be understood properly and thoroughly is taught elsewhere.
But we will hasten straight to the process of practice, and what we have to reveal of the natural mysteries and causes we will save up into the universal, where we will then speak of each one in particular as necessary.
But the philosophers want the first solutio of our gold to take place in primam materiam, namely in Mercurium vivum, because it comes from and is born of a Mercurio.
Then they say, Just as the ice from the water coagulates and freezes from the water, so its first dissolution is again into a water mass.
And as this Erempel of the Eif indicates, identifies and makes clear: So also the gold, which was first mercury, shall be brought back there in its first dissolution, namely into mercury, that is, into mercury vivum, or mercury currentem.
Therefore it will be necessary that we say something about the body itself, and that philosophy introduce the modum, or the means by which such a breaking or dissolution of the body is possible and can naturally occur. Then the philosophers say: Facilius est aurum facere, quam deftruere, that is: It is easier to make gold than to break gold.
But I have also said that two things are to be observed in every work when it comes to a new donation. The first is the corporis solutio of each one.
Like the grain in the field or in the earth, the grain yields nothing unless it is broken open and begins to rot. This must happen out of necessity, and therefore the philosopher says: Putrefactio eft omnium rerum mater, The rotting is a mother of all things, then the putrefactio works every thing and brings it into its original being.
As one sees how through the putrefaction everything that comes from a root becomes a root again, and what comes from the earth becomes earth again, what comes from water, back to water, and what chaos gives, goes back into its chaos.
The other is that each thing is diligently kept in such putrefaction for a certain time, about which further instruction is to be given afterwards.
But now you should know other things, that the putrefaction cannot happen outside of moisture. For its greatest power is in moisture, as one then perceives in the fruits of the seed of the field.
Secondly, the putrefaction also requires corrosion, and such a corrosion must follow in the moisture. For apart from this corrosive, which is either given to it or which it creates itself, no complete putrefaction can take place.
And we have this as an example of all natural needs. For what does the corn in the field bring to its putrefaction apart from the corrisivo? Nothing.
For the corresivum must take over the body and lay it down completely, drive it apart, and open up and destroy it down to the smallest point.
Thirdly, there must also be heat, so that this happens in the heat. For the heat is the highest cause which causes the corrosive substance to travel and drive it into the putrefaction with the body.
From the Corrosivo you will notice that it is nothing else than a salt, and the K4 has in the way: All vegetables received in the first creation the process and progression to the minerals, for they have in them a part of the minerals, namely the salt, as one can clearly see in the alkali of every vegetable when it is burned to ashes.
This salt in every seed is thrown into the field, that is, into the water of the putrefaction: Now this seed cannot be putrefied in any form, except by the Corrosivo, namely the salt of the earth, which is to be understood as follows:
You see that an unfertilized field or field that is lean and dry, as they say, produces fine, perfect fruits, and the grain cannot be sufficiently putrified or completely broken down, nor brought to the perfect solution.
But when the field is fertile and fertilized, then it goes completely, with force and power, to the right perfect putrification and dissolution, for it has the urge to hasten to a perfect end.
But the dung is nothing other than a saltpeter, mixed with other salt. For one can boil precious saltpeter from sheep's dung, as experience has shown. Likewise also from other animal things, such as chicken and pigeon dung, which produce a burning and pungent salt.
When the seed is thrown into such salted, moist earth, the salt first begins to dissolve and breaks the body apart, and then a perfect putrefaction can occur.
But you should also know that no juice or water is lacking in such a salt, even though it is not officially felt or evidently seen with the mouth or tongue.
All this has been shown solely so that a certain instruction of nature and its work may always be kept in mind, so that one may be guided by it, as by a stick, and follow it accordingly.
If our putrefaction is to be like this, then we must learn from nature as from a teacher, who to some extent sets out to instruct us through her teaching.
But we work in this way: we take Salarmoniac, Saltpeter a pound each, and a quarter of alkali, all well prepared and well mixed. From these we distill a water according to the art of distilling sharp water, as you have seen, with a template, because there are powerful and powerful corrosives, the spirit, cloudy, thick, like a mist, which will which serve our work, namely the work of gold.
Why Salmiac? Because gold cannot be broken by anything but salt, and this is a pure spirit separated from the common salt, which penetrates with its penetrating power, also the innermost bond with which nature has bound gold in its final separation.
Why saltpeter? So that the power and soul of the salmiac are moderately captured. For by itself and through itself the whole body of the salmiac is driven without any sharpness by the fire above it, and serves no purpose, but through the local, fiery and burning spirit of the saltpeter, the powers of the salmiac are aligned and all abolished, for they are opposed to one another and must be fought against one another with strife.
Why salt alkali? So that the spirits are densified even more, because in the alkali there is a thick salt spirit, which rises up in the same form with impetuosity through the resistance of the previous two and settles again in water. Thus the water or moisture is prepared and prepared for the purification of our body.
In this water the Corpus Solis should now be planted as if in a field, or as a grain thrown into water, so that it sprouts and bursts.
For this our water will do the same, namely, that it will diffuse the body of the soli and dissolve it into itself, for the vegetable is also the substance of gold, which is subject to salt.
Now if gold has diffused in this corrosive natural water, then it would be fair and convenient to seal it in the putrefaction of the Fimi or manure or balneo sect. But the spirits of our water do not tolerate heat, since they themselves have heated each other up and ignited.
For if an excessive heat were added and the vessel were sealed, the spirits would break out unexpectedly and in an instant and violently shatter the vessel into hundreds of pieces and destroy it completely.
For this reason we use another method, namely distillation according to the art and its content, or cohobiren. For when the seed is dried and then rain falls on it, it refreshes all the plants, and they grow again better and more beautiful.
When the body has been completely broken down and dissolved in this water, we let it stand for a day and a night, so that the spirits of the water can mix better with the substance of the gold and the limbs of the solar body can break down more. Then we draw it off the broken body again and pour fresh water into it.
Furthermore, so that the spirits of our mineral dissolving water, which are predestined by nature to the destruction of the solar body, can penetrate the body even further and cause a further breaking and diffusion; this distillation of the body and re-infusion can take place several times without damage, so that one can actually be certain that all membranes or parts of the body, however small and insignificant they may be, are broken and diffused.
Thus, such a union of our thick mineral and spiritual water with the body of Solis is made that the spirits of the water mix in the body of the gold, so that they are very difficult to separate from each other. For the spirit of the gold is mixed with the poison of the water, so that the spirit of the water cannot be driven away by the fire, so it contains the spirit of the solar body, and can hardly be separated from each other again.
It is then necessary to separate these two spirits, and to separate the mineral from the metallic, the base from the noble, the sour from the sweet, the destructive from the destroyed, the breaker from the broken, the dissolver from the dissolved, the earthly from the heavenly, the natural from the unnatural.
From this no further progress or progression into the other mode can take place or be completed, except through contraria, i.e. by sending them something contrary, which through its contradictory nature causes a separation of the vow and marriage, so that one leaves the other, and separates from each other.
Through the experiences (because we have it in the great perfect book de tota Natura, The of nature and its works of heaven and who will speak about heavenly things, jesund so to give up and give) we will report from the plants of the Vegetabilium, such as an abomination in its power who wield the power of the mineral spirits.
And when we gave the Experient her praise, and admitted, for reason that they gave us the clumsy, and at the same time against present natures, such as the revealed the secrets of the wine spirit, which with violence against all mineral spirits white.
And these two spirits are well worth considering, since one finds them in almost all things, but in one more, in the other less.
Indeed, the cabalists of the Real Cabala have created a great secret, for they bring forth in their secrets such an adversity of these two spirits, namely the vegetable mixed spirit, and a mineral spirit, by which an excellent mystery of fembabret is revealed to them.
Then they say how the time from the beginning of the world to Christ is hidden here, who mixed his blood in such a spirit of wine for the forgiveness of all sins and washing away of this innate impurity: and how the spirit of wine then washes away and cleanses all impurity, and drives out the destructiveness with great power, and introduces a new life: how then, when we remember him in his place, a complete report will be given of this.
But for the sake of brevity we will go on to the process of this our intention.
If, after frequently removing the thick, misty or corrosive spiritual water, we throw such a spirit of wine into the composition of our body of mineral spirits, such a separation takes place that all power, strength and sharpness are completely extinguished and lost, and only the body (which maintains a community with both, namely with the spirit of the minerals and the wine) remains at the bottom of the vessel, and the faces of the mineral water which have settled down with the spirit can be washed away without any harshness with bad aqua communi, so that we can actually know that we have the listed and dissolved body completely and completely free of all other spirits.
Because we have a rectified tartarum, which we place under the broken body of the gold and prepare it to sublimate, according to the custom and knowledge of sublimation, as the art of alchemy knows and maintains. And then throw the sublimation, as we receive it from the fire in the alembic, into a good distilled vinegar: the body is immediately awakened to a new life.
And this is briefly the first chapter, which contains for us the first key of this art, namely the SOLVTION of our gold, into its primam materiam, or into Mercurium vivum.
But now that we have prepared and prepared our material according to the philosophers and their opinion, we rightly proceed to the other mode, namely to the other key of our work, since we are then told of another heavenly opening, namely of the soul and the spirit.
For the first exclusion was only an opening of the body and its members: but this opening or dissolution and dissection serves for an essential anatomy, both of the spirit and of the soul.
Why the spirit: For the spirit holds in it the hidden soul of our body, which all philosophers have sought, and few among them have been able to find.
For what reasons? For she is invisible, and no man has ever been able to see her, but her great power and strength, namely that she proves herself to be mighty and strong over all things, has made her felt.
What then is the spirit of our work? Nothing else than the HYLE of a new world, for the birth of new elements, not that it should be a world like the outermost, which is formed from the spirit in spirit, united by the spirit, but that the outermost world, in its final creation of the birth of all elemental power, separated from the first HYLE and again enclosed in a corpus.
We have, however, broken up such a corpus by God's forgiveness, and prepared it again into a HYLE, as said above. But of this in another place, which I will describe, de præparastione cœleftium materiarum super cæleftis Lapidis.
But what is the soul of our work? It is the fourfold VIRTVS, POTENTIA, ARCANVM MYSTERIVM of our spirit, which stands before the external world and is predestined for it, and is also seen by all elements as a bride.
The other, the corpora of the external world, souls and mysteria, possess a matrimonium and marriage, unite together, and thus remain bound together with indissoluble bonds.
Why is such a mystery or arcanum called the soul? This is something only the Magi have, thus done in secret, because they discovered through their excellent understanding and wisdom given to them by God, that in every creature there is such a being which is not created or made.
For the power of the divine spiritual spiral, when God said: (Let this or that be) has bound itself in each of the same creatures which are created.
And the word of the breath or issue of the spirit from the divine mouth, which he spoke, is not a creature or creature, according to which God caused it to proceed from him by speaking, but a divine power.
This power or breath is the soul of every creature, according to what God has predestined it for, as we report in another place where we speak of the desires of man and of the stamina and powers of the soul, also under our Magic, and under the chapter on the power of faith.
But when the philosophers saw that the Magi held this in such high esteem, they, being ignorant, allowed this magical secret to remain.
But we go for the sake of brevity to our Proposito, when we said at the beginning that we wanted to unlock the spirit, so that the soul may be released from the bonds bound by the spirit, and that it may be freed from all impurity.
It must be purified. For in itself it is very pure, but it is too deeply corrupted by the spirit, which takes away its power and destroys it.
Even if we were now willing to make a special mention here, as before, of how the first destruction and dissolution of the whole world is accomplished through water, but the other, that it will happen and be accomplished through fire, we will nevertheless proceed all the more quickly for the sake of clarity.
We also had to consider here a parable of the dissolution of fire, for in this mode it is taught how this dissolution alone is a dissolution of the spirit and soul through fire, just as the former was a dissolution of the body and spirit through water.
Well, we speak and teach, I say here, about the SVBLIMATION of our vivified solar body, and how it is to take place.
When we see the living body of gold completely without any other mixture, pure washed off, we first take off the Dew of heaven, from the aurora, so it has been moistened or moistened. Which Thau Isaac a clouded water, or a water that calls clouds.
But we do this to him by placing him in a well-shod flask and luting well and precisely on it, and on fine pipes a recipient to receive the cloudy water from the Mercurio Solis; but with very gentle and low distillation we continue day and night, or longer, depending on how much there is, until we see that it appears to be a pale white ash on the bottom.
We take this out of the flask as clean as possible and place it in a glass sublimatory, not particularly high, and cover all the bent plates, which should be flat, with glue, on this mask, not spiky, and long according to the usual shape.
They should not be covered with glue any further, as the figure, marked with ink at the places, shows: You do not stick it deep into the oven, as was the usual custom, but prepare an oven that has a flat, round cut-out leaf on top, in this manner, this leaf is made of glue, as is the custom, the hearth is made as in the distillery A furnace is made for the coals to rest on, with holes for ash; but there should not be more than four valves, and the round, wide hole should be the size of the sublimation vessel.
The sublimation should take place in this furnace, but care should be taken not to do it in a laboratory where rain or snow could fall on the glass, as there is a risk that it might crack.
When all this has happened, one continues with the sublimation, first with a very small fire, which one can only modestly see, so that a thin smoke rises and settles: one keeps the fire at such a temperature until one sees that everything has risen, then one lets it cool down gradually and turns the sublimatory with the sublimate around, and what was previously at the bottom will then be blessed at the top, and this alternation and reversal should continue until you see the spirit becoming tired and sluggish, and it no longer wants to let the fire drive it. Then if it no longer wants to rise, it is a sure and good sign that it is hurrying and wants to go towards its perfection again. Therefore we must now proceed from here to the third mode of our work, namely calcination.
In the recent chapter we have spoken of the elevation of our souls and spirits, and how they carry the body from one end to the other, thus in spiritual form, and also of the opening of the souls and the instruction of the spirit.
But now we want to teach and instruct further about the third modo, namely about CALCINATION, where our soul and spirit make and prepare a hut for them again, that is, a heaven in which they will dwell.
Of which there is a parable in the Apocalypse The New Jerusalem, as will be further explained later.
After our spirit and soul have sufficiently exalted and elevated themselves in the next chapter under SVBLIMATION, and have risen far above the level of nature, and have spiritually led the body along in a chaotic form, they have finally moved the pure soul, which extends itself in such a chaotic state of the spirit with its invisible power and heavenly radius, and thus invisibly grasps or takes hold of the entire substance of the spirit and its spiritual body, and forces it, after the final term of its operation, to return to a corpus.
This is to be understood, then, as the Corpus or Materia Solis of our prepared work has, as before, in its spirit a soul, that is, an Arcanum, Mystery, Virtus, Potentia, which the philosophers call the perfect fiery soulful sulphur, so that you may also call it that, and they have said that this sulphur alone unites with gold in potency, otherwise all gold in its purity completely rids itself of all external sulphur, whatever its nature may be.
Now it is undeniable that sulphur coagulates mercury, that it also forms a metallically perfect corpus, such as gold.
Because philosophers have now recognized and seen that sulphur exists, and also that they have evidently experienced this in all other imperfect metals, and that gold is likewise a metal and very rich, without any sulphur, they have judged that there must be only a power of sulphur and no sulphur in the corpore solis, and that is how it has remained.
From this you should now notice and learn, namely, what the philosophers recognize as a power of sulphur, that is, in the case of the two Magi, the soul, and of gold Virtus, Potentia, and Arcanum, Wolan, this Arcanum or power of Sulfur-like sulfur in our materials, as his exaltation to the Supercæleftibus gesriegen, and led the spirit with him, encompassing The power of the soul, or the power of the invisible bare sulphur, grasps and grasps and he Constantly holds in her the whole sub stans of the spirit: Just as the invisible The magnet with its force pulls the egg sen attacks, and compels him: And like a very small quantity, of the Philosophical you see, eine grosse Summa des Mercurii vulgi from him, and in a perfect Corpus Solis vel Lunæ coagulates, and like the Magic Supercaelestic stone, by its appearance alone and Gegenblick a transmutation of the Metalls.
And as Basiliscus kills people with the shine of his eyes, and as the conjunctions of the heavenly bodies, through their appearance, excite and cause war, pestilence, and micry to grow: so and in the same way it is with our souls, when it is in its highest affection and exaltation, it inspires the spirit, through its power of violence, to become corporally perfect and indestructible again.
For just as such a power of Sulphur in the substance of Mercury brings about the perfection of gold, so here too nothing else is reported but something similar, but of a higher power and form.
This power then begins to resist all the power of fire and to oppose it. For previously our spirit and soul with their bodies were so fleeting that even the fire could drive them from one place to another and wherever it wanted.
But now the soul will let itself in and sink into the spirit with its invisible power, so that from now on, after its term has been fulfilled, it will be impossible for the fire of the mineral power to gain anything with its strength for the spirit of our work.
Well, let us proceed to our proposito: When the spirit of our work, according to the teaching of the other chapter, has become so sluggish and weary that it feels the restraining power of Souls, you should take it out in this way and put it in a vial that is twelfth full, and you should seal the vial well with the Hermeric seal, and hang it in the oven over the heat of the lamps, or in the secret Athanor or Tripodem, where one can control the fire inside, according to use and type, as the work of dericization, according to the body's matter and substance content, and understand this as follows:
There are four degrees of fire through which we can actually carry out and accomplish such a calcination, and through which our shattered and destroyed or raised and broken souls, soul and body, are again conjugated. For it must necessarily follow that if a perfect elixir or projection is to be made for the imperfect metals and the transmutation of mercury, then these three, body, spirit and soul, must again become a unity, so that they are one in power, strength, virtue and potentiality, and this is what the art of this mode of CALCINATION requires.
But in all things it is especially to be considered the office, the regime, the time, and color of these three corporis, animæ and spiritus.
For this is how the body first performs its function, namely that it houses the soul and spirit, for it is the house, the tent and dwelling place of the spirit and the soul.
But his rule is in the first degree of fire, where he produces himself in his corporal colors, that is, in the colors which adhere to finer corporeal substance, namely in a white, shining color, such as the modus sublimationis thus prepares for us and presents to the eyes, which the philosophers have attributed to the element of the earth, Terræ Lemniæ, or St. Pauli.
The first time, however, is kept according to the weight and control of the fire, which should be the first degree, as then the skilled artists should divide this up fairly and know in what degree and warmth our work and matter are then kept fully complete: with the first degree until the first time of life and its office and its control and its colors are perfect and completely filled.
It is therefore important to understand that the color reveals the end of each era.
For as the day reveals the end of the night, and the night or the dark colors of the night reveal the end of the day: so also here in our work.
And just as the apple and pear and all other fruits ripen at one time, then at another. This is due to the good and comfortable warmth and right degree of fire, that is, the sun, just as the vine shows us an example and provides us with an example.
But it will be impossible to represent a certain form and degree of fire in our work on this particular, since the sun shows us that even in its certain course it is often unable to extend its perfect warmth to particular creatures for reasons of many obstacles, and in the primary it cannot, as a result of which all the sea-growths which are predestined with their perfection in the sun's warmth suffer a great loss in their proper time and perfection, power and colors.
For this reason, the greatest joy will be in the artist's ingenuity and good sense, since he is perfect and diligent in these matters. And this is of the first degree of fire.
In the other degree of the effect of the fire, the spirit is seen with its colors.
For the other degree of fire demands and drives forth the force of the spirit and its color, in which the spirit allows itself to be seen, so that it also begins to change the white body into another color, namely into a red color, as is minimal, so that the fierce spirit extends itself and tints and colors the body through all its members, and has united itself with the body and connected itself with it.
And this effect and experience is dedicated by us to the Super Elementary, our secret Mercurio.
The third degree of fire will bring us forth and demonstrate the power of the sea, of which it was said above: that it is the mystery and arcanum, the perfect power and potency of the forces of the invisible sulphur of this our whole work.
For now, through the third degree of fire, the power of the sulphur is awakened; it stretches itself out and illuminates with its pure, blood-red shine all the leather and the whole body with the spirit of our work.
And, like a burning spirit, it ignites a subtle fire in this sprawling body, which lies there open, like a scattered earth, which, when moistened with water, swallows and consumes, and in the same form has taken our spirit and soul back into itself, to the extent that they form an inseparable bond against each other, and thus find again at the same time body and soul, like a perfect union, brought together, and united in all their parts, yes even in the invisible ones, to such an extent that outside the order of nature they neither see nor deviate from each other, regardless of the fact that the body is still open in all places, and lies spread out, like a scattered little monkey.
But in order that a complete and achievable perfection may come about, the philosophers have added another modum (which cannot be overlooked) to this particular of ours.
Therefore, we will now proceed to this final and definitive key of the philosophers as a conclusion.
The third chapter has indeed taught us about the CALCINATION of the earth, and how through the degrees of fire the colors of the body, the spirit and the soul come forth and appear, and how the soul in turn brings about a perfection in the spirit with the body and binds itself to one another in a union, and how all this is completed and aligned in the third degree of fire.
But now we want to report, indicate and teach as briefly as possible about the effect of the fourth degree of fire as the conclusion of our whole work, and how such a thing may occur and happen. You will also remember that you Work in the Athanar or Tripod, with the third degree of fire to the red colors, that is, in the third regiment of souls, or of the petential strong sulphur, of which philosophy may also mention done, brought and preserved: Just at this There the fourth mode is to be completed, namely the FIXATIO of this our work; we but do this to him:
When the soul and spirit unite with the body united, and into a perfect perfection engaged and promised, so stay the body is still open, spread out like a snail, and a blood-red color.
We follow them with the fourth degree of fire, in this fourth mode and key of the fixation we close the open body, as the we unite spirit and soul into an eternal alliance nut in the body through the fourth degree of real fire, and that they will remain to the left judgment, from and outside the body with not flee, or may give way; yes, because a Nature is, should not nor can body, soul nor spirit does not differ from each other remain forever until the Last Judgement connected.
And understand that it is by the burning of the fire of the fourth degrees.
Because in this warmth of the fourth degree raises the Corpus with the Souls and spirit to melt and embrace and captures in itself the spirit and soul that do not want to give way, and the body accelerates so the same as in a glåfern transparent Capture all Magnalia, Virtutes, Myfteria and Potentias of our past work, and the soul gives light shine through this ruby and Berillian body, like a sun Through a crystal its shine and glamour see, but in the colors and the more different they are.
And from now on it will be impossible and will be feared that any element, elemental air or fire, could cause any harm to this unfinished work. For nature as a whole has never been able to reach such a very high perfection, and therefore it will be impossible for it to break such a united being as Derum.
Praise and honor be to God for all eternity, who has allowed nature to transform itself from an earthly creature into something more heavenly, and has revealed such a great mystery to the senses and spirits of men, and has given it to them to understand and comprehend.
You see, it is right that we now bring forth the use of our stone and bring it to light.
Then before and in likeness, as this our stone, although it was drilled and made by a particular hand work, it has nevertheless attained and taken on a much higher degree of nature than other stones: Thus its power and effect will also be much more excellent than other prepared stones, since it also follows from the beginning the first Hris, in which art blesses it, which brings forth its fruits as if they were more than elements.
It has indeed been broken down and opened up into its innermost being by the mineral spirits of salmiac, saltpeter and alkali, which have not ceased until they have brought these our materials to light before our eyes and delivered them to the promised heavenly HYLE.
The time that will come after us and among our people will help us to publicly attest that we will not deny this or disdainfully throw it away.
But this our ready HYLE, in the exaltation of its spiritual body, through the Modum sublimationis, has been raised far above the degree and verinogen of nature, not only because of the body and its matter, but also in power and virtue and strength, since we tear it up in the sublime vessel and its furnace with frequent turning and turning through the power of the furnace, and in that very place soul and spirit closed up, even in their innermost and most hidden places.
And such a work is followed by the funeral, and as it were an eternal marriage and concordia of our body, spirit and soul, to which each one in particular will reveal its secret through the power of fire, and reveal and show through its colors enotnos.
Finally, the fixation enclosed in the glass body all the arcanitæt and magnalia, as much as is powerful in our long work.
And the soul has ignited itself with its heavenly fire, which shines out from such presumed glass bodies as the sun shines through spectacles or glass, yet with a difference which is great.
Well, since our soul and spirit are thus bound together with the body by fixation, there is no longer any fear, worry, danger, or any other evil to be expected.
For our stone has now made itself known and established itself with the fire of material power, so that it rejoices and feeds in the fire, and would like to wish that its daily maintenance could take place in the fire.
But we now go to the work of projection, and want to take our prepared stone out of its barrel and keep it clean.
When you have the stone, two drops of the clean, fine gold are rolled up and hammered down, and the stone is to be placed in a good, solid glass crucible, then another crucible, which is covered with iron and is well coated, and then another one, in which the stone is to be pulverized and mixed with the gold, and finally put into a solid glass crucible.
It should be carefully placed in a certain place so that it melts, and then kept melted for three days and nights. When this time is up, the crucible and heat are allowed to cool down on their own, and the stone is carefully taken out so that it can be carefully preserved as one of the most precious stones.
From this one now projects onto melted imperfect metals.
But you should now notice that if our grain is not fermented with gold, it could not enter the imperfections when they were in the hot river, but would float on top like a gold, for in its liquid state it is nothing other than a gold, since from the moment it is touched by fire it melts like a gold, and when it cools it hardens again like a ruby. This is why the fermentation of this, ours and all other elixirs and stones was invented.
His doli, however, cannot be described, but it is observed that when a small quantity of this is carried on a large weight of the imperfect metals, prepared in such a way that he will now dominate it, one could see more of the imperfect body until one finally has the right doli
So that is enough of this. Now we come to the use and application of Arkney, which we had long hoped to find in our stone.
Then just as he receives it from the material which is the end of all natural creatures, birth, perfect as a whole world; so he is also a microcosm, and channels the arcana, mysteries and virtues of the whole world, as is said of him in another place: wherefore he is also powerful in the microcosm of man to peel, expel and cure all diseases, whatever their name may be, and to re-establish the whole sanitation.
Its use is such that it is refolded in a spiritus vini, namely one scruple in two ounces of spiritus vini, before it is then brought to fermentation.
Depending on the nature of the disease, a drop of this is administered in other common wine or water.
To God, the Creator of all creatures, be honor and thanks for this divine eternal gift, together with his Son Christ Esu, and the Holy Spirit, the inseparable eternal holy Trinity, Amen, Amen, Amen.
Quote of the Day
“The first word in this great work is the bodies transmutation into Mercury and this the Philosophers have called a dissolution. And this Artificiall and ingenious dissolving is the bullwark of this art. Hence saith Rosarey, Unlesse you dissolve the bodies, Your Labor is in vaine. Therefore the dissolving of Philosophers is not a drinking in but the bodies transmutation into water. Nor is it called a Philosophical dissolving unlesse it becomes cleere as Mercury, so thou wilt have an element, which is the water.”
Arnold de Villa Nova
Chymicall treatise of the Ancient and highly illuminated Philosopher
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